Charters of Despot Stefan to the Great Lavra Monastery

and good bondsmen, and faithful stewards as well [Lk. 12, 42], to whom He has entrusted the highest service and rank.

All these, then - on the one hand, the temples of God and houses of prayer, as we have said, they radiantly raised on high from their very foundations; and, on the other hand, for all these, in order and by kind, one after another, every good deed bore fruit, so that they might zealously establish them [the temples and houses of prayer] for everlasting existence and abiding, since by piety and love of Christ, by devotion and by nature they are partakers [2 Pet. 1, 4] and heirs of the throne, believing that from the ungrudging Master of all they will receive the common reward, the gifts of God which are without repentance, which [the Master] will measure by His own true measures, not by the abundance of what is given but by the riches of faith and devotion.

Therefore I too, the pious and Christ-loving Despot Stefan in Christ God, who have received rank and authority from my Master Christ and who am ruler upon the former mighty throne of my fatherland, the Serbian land, have zealously striven by no means to be deprived of the piety of the pious emperors before me and of their benefactions.

For this reason, in the eighteenth year of my reign ["of my empire"], there came to me the most honorable among the priest-monks, the abbot of the venerable holy imperial monastery of Our Lady the Theotokos, called the Lavra - which is on the Holy Mountain of Athos, of our father among the Saints Athanasius - the lord Genadije. He told me of the needs and the many other troubles of the monastery. Moved by mercy and guided by the precept of the law, we resolved to come to the aid of and help the renowned, above-mentioned Lavra Monastery, in keeping with the present time and [our] means. We pray to my hope, the Empress of all, the Lady, and to the intercession of our father among the Saints Athanasius the Athonite, and to the prayers of the God-bearing fathers who are in the Lavra, that the prosperity of our rule and power may increase for many years, and that our beneficence to the Monastery may increase, and that I may be an heir of that eternal Kingdom which is without sorrow.

For this reason I offer a small gift to the hope of my life and the salvation of all, the Empress and Lady, for the above-mentioned monastery of the Mountain of Athos, the Lavra of Athanasius who is among the Saints - and these are those [gifts].

The village of Kurilovaja, the village of Vrankovo, the village of Šaludovac, the village of Buljani. To them I grant freedom [and I free them] from the soće tax, from castle-guard duty, ploughing, digging, cartage, portage, reaping, haymaking, the priselica levy, and from tribute, except for what is necessary for the Sovereign's need; and, simply put, [I have freed them] from all obligations [labor dues], present and future, so that [those villages] may abide in freedom, undisturbed by anyone. If anyone from the above-mentioned villages has fled lest Hasan take him captive, the monks of the Lavra are authorized to return such people, wherever they find them, to the said villages, whether they will it or not.

All these villages written above I dedicate to the above-mentioned Lavra Monastery of the Mountain of Athos, wherefore I address in person that abbot of the Lavra, the most honorable among the priest-monks, the lord Genadije, and the most honorable among the priest-monks, the lord Simon, and